Shoe upper

ABSTRACT

A SHOE UPPER IS FORMED FROM A ONE OR TWO PIECE BLANK AND THE REAR PORTION THEREOF IS FORMED FORM LEATHER DOUBLED OVER UPON ITSELF TO PRESENT A FOLD ALONG THE EDGE OF THE FOOT-RECEIVING OPENING OF THE SHOE UPPER.

Feb. 16, 1971 KARYGIANNls 3,562,931

SHOE UPPER Filed April 22, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR KYRIAKOS KARYGIANNIS ATTORN S Feb. 16, 1971 K. KARYGIANNIS 3,562,931

SHOE UPPER Filed April 22, 1969 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR KYRIAKOS KARY GIANNlS Feb. 16, 1971 I KARYGlANNls 3,562,931

SHOE UPPER Filed April 22, 1969 3 Sheets-Sheet S INVENTOR KYRIAKOS KARYGIAMHS United States Patent 3,562,931 SHOE UPPER Kyriakos Karygiannis, 463 Grace St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Apr. 22, 1969, Ser. No. 818,243 Int. Cl. A43b 23/02 US. CI. 36-45 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A shoe upper is formed from a one or two piece blank and the rear portion thereof is formed from leather doubled over upon itself to present a fold along the edge of the foot-receiving opening of the shoe upper.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes and in particular to the making of shoe uppers. In present shoe uppers several pieces of leather are used and these are joined by stitching. It is an object of the present invention to minimize the number of pieces of leather utilized and hence the amount of stitching required.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention only one line of stitching at the side of the upper is needed and this may be done by hand, thus eliminating the need for expensive shoe-making machinery. In certain embodiments of the invention stitching is eliminated completely and the parts of the upper are secured together by gluing.

Basically the invention provides a shoe'upper having at least the rear portion thereof formed from a single blank of leather doubled over upon itself to present a fold along the edge of the foot-receiving opening of the shoe upper.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings illustrate certain preferred embodiments of the invention and these will now be described by way of example:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a two part leather blank for use in making a shoe upper according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a shoe having an upper made from the blank shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of another leather blank which may be used to construct a shoe upper in accordance with the invention,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a shoe having an upper made from the blank shown in FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a third form of leather blank,

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an insert for use with the blank shown in FIG. 5, and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a shoe having an upper made from the blank shown in FIG. 5 and the insert shown in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS SHOWN IN THE DRAWINGS In FIG. 1 the blank consists of two pieces of leather, a piece 1 for forming the front portion of a shoe upper and a piece 2 for forming the rear portion of a shoe upper. The piece 1 has a rounded forward end 3 and a rear edge 4 which joints the side edges 5 via curves. A region 7 adjacent rear edge 4 is folded under and is secured to the underside of the blank,,thus presenting a folded edge 8 at the rear of the front portion of the shoe as clearly seen in FIG. 2.

The leather piece 2 has straight side edges 9 and 10, a substantially straight edge 11 and an edge 12 which is outwardly bulged in its middle region. The piece 2 is folded over upon itself so that the straight portions of edge 12 coincide with edge 11 and the piece 2 thus preice vents a fold 13, as shown in FIG. 2, which extends around the foot-receiving opening 14 in the shoe upper. In present-day shoes the rear portion of the upper is constructed of inner and outer parts which must be stitched together along the edge of the foot-receiving opening but this is eliminated by the present invention. The part 2, when folded, is bent to the shape of the rear portion of the shoe upper and is stitched to the front part 1 which has been bent to the shape of the front portion of the upper, the stitching being effected at 15 and 16.

Thus, it will be seen that the upper is of very simplified construction compared with present-day uppers and that only two small lines of stitching are required to form the upper from the two part blank shown in FIG. 1. This stitching may be effected by hand and will give the decorative effect shown in FIG. 2. Thus the need for any machine stitching has been eliminated.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a one piece blank 17 having a front portion 18 and a rear portion 19 which is integral with the front portion but is partially severed therefrom by cuts 20 and 21. The rear portion is approximately half as broad as the adjoining region of the front portion and has an edge 22 which is a continuation of an edge of the front portion. The opposite edge 23 of the front portion has a curved cutout 24 in the rear region thereof and this cutout together with slit 20 defines a flap 25 which is folded under and secured to the under surface of the adjacent region of the blank to present a rearwardly facing fold 26 as shown in FIG. 4. The rear portion 19 of the blank is then folded downwardly about a line extending from the outer end of slit 21 to a point midway of the rear edge 27 of the blank. The front portion 18 and rear portion 19 are then shaped to conform to the shape of the front and rear portions of the upper and the rear edge 27 is secured to the edge of cutout 24 as shown at 28 in FIG. 4. Preferably a small piece of leather 29 is glued to the under face of the blank and the small region 30 of the blank between the slit 21 and the leather piece 29 is turned under and secured between the under face of the blank and the piece 29.

As in the first embodiment, a folded edge 31 extends around the foot-receiving opening in the upper at the top edge of the rear portion and there is no need for stitching along this edge. In fact the only stitching needed in the shoe shown in FIG. 4 is along the line 28. If desired this may be eliminated by interleaving the overlapping regions of the front and rear portions and gluing the interleaved portions together.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 to 7, the blank in FIG. 5 and the insert in FIG. 6 are adapted to form the upper of a dress shoe with a tying lace and tongue as shown in FIG. 7. In this case the blank has a forward portion 32 and a rear portion 33 having a common edge 34, the other edge 35 of the front portion extending uninterruptedly to a rear edge 36 which terminates at its inner end at the rear of a cutout 37. A slit 38 extends forwardly from the rear edge 39 of the middle region of the front portion 32 and a slit 40 extends from the rearward edge of slit 38 outwardly toward edge 34. As shown in chaindotted outline, the insert; of FIG. 6 is adapted to be glued to the underside of the blank, the insert comprising a reinforcement leather piece 41 having a slit 42 through which the forward portion 43 of a tongue 44 extends, the piece 41 having a slit therein corresponding to slit 38. The underside of the piece 41, as it is shown in FIG. 6, is glued to the underside of the blank in FIG. 5 and the forward portion 43 of the tongue is also glued to the underside of the blank, the rear portion of the tongue depending freely forwardly of slit 42.

In making the upper shown in FIG. 7, the insert shown in FIG. 6 is secured to the blank of FIG. 5 as described above and the regions 45 and 46 of the front portion are bent under and up against the piece 41 and glued thereto. The inner part of rear portion 33 is then bent under about a line extending between the outer end of slit 40 and a point 47 approximately midway of the rear edge of portion 33. Portion 33 is then bent around forwardly and portion 32 is bent upwardly to the shape of the corresponding portions of the upper with the region of the front portion terminating in edge 36 inserted between the overlapping layers of the rear edge of portion 33 and glued in that position. Holes 48 may be formed at any suitable time to receive a tying lace '49. The result is an upper of very fine appearance exhibiting only one line of joining at 50, there being no stitching apparent anywhere on the upper.

The uppers of the invention can be constructed quite simply by hand from the blanks shown and their equivalents and yet they are of good appearance and are less expensive to make than machine made uppers.

It will be appreciated, of course, that stiffeners will be placed between the leather layers of the rear portion and a cloth or other suitable lining will be secured to the under surface of the front portion of the upper before the upper and the sole and heel are brought together in the final shoev What I claim is:

1. A shoe upper having a forward portion for receiving the forward part of a foot, including the toes, and a rear portion for receiving the rearward part of the foot, including the heel, said rear portion extending around the foot receiving opening in the upper from one side of the forward portion to the other, said rear portion having an inner layer and an outer layer of leather throughout its extent andfor the full height of the upper, the upper edge of said rear portion being in the form of a leather fold free of stitching throughout its entire length, at least said rear portion being formed from a single leather blank.

2. A shoe upper as claimed in claim 5, whrein the forward portion of the upper is formed from a separate single blank and said portions are secured together at the sides of a mid-region of the shoe upper.

3. A shoe upper as claimed in claim 5, wherein the forward portion of the upper is formed from the same blank as the rear portion, one end of the rear portion being integral with the forward portion and the other end being secured to a rear edge region of the front portion at one side of the upper.

4. A shoe upper as claimed in claim 3, wherein the rear edge region of the front portion is slit centrally, a reinforcing insert having a corresponding slit is secured to the inner surface of said region, a tongue is secured at its forward end to the inner surface of the upper forwardly of said slits and the regions on either side of said slits are provided with openings to receive a tying lace.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,733,991 10/1929 Golden 3647X 2,671,185 3/1954 Bloom 36-450X 2,683,316 7/1954 Reker et al. 3648X 2,955,366 10/1960 Zuckeran 3646.5

ALFRED R. GUEST, Primary Examiner 

